Don't Follow Your Passion

Immediately after I finished delivering an elementary assembly in Wantagh, NY, a teacher approached me and said, "Mr. Teddy, it is amazing how much effort you have put into your movement over the past two years".  I quickly replied, "No I haven't!"  Ok, I didn't really say that, but if she could read my mind she would be like, 'Whaaa?'

Finish line speech- "Thank you!  But it wasn't hard.  I just went for a bike ride!"

But the teacher's remark made me think for a while as I reflected on the work and effort I have put into my organization, Across America for Childhood Obesity. And after thinking about the two years of touring the country on a bicycle without any money and speaking to over 250 schools, it became apparent that I have not put in much effort at all.  

No, really in all seriousness IT WAS EASY!  And no it wasn't because I followed my passion- that's just cliche garbage that is fed to us to try to make us feel better about wasting half of our lives working.  You should never just follow your passion.  The more I think about passion, the more I feel it is one-dimensional and should never be the sole reason for doing something.

Say for instance your passion is coffee.  In fact, you are so passionate about coffee that you decide to open a local coffee shop.  Soon your business is booming and you are knee deep in the business and logistics of owning a coffee shop.  You quickly find out you are not so passionate about business.  Then after observing squatters taking up valuable seat space in your small shop for a lousy $1.95 cup of coffee (guilty as charged, give me a break I'm basically homeless) you discover you're not passionate about people.  The hours you have to put into your business, the marketing, the never-ending hiring and training of new employees and so on, all of which you are not passionate about.  But your passion was coffee, and you were told if you do what you are passionate about you will never work a day in your life.  So why was this such a bad idea?  It's because a single passion is a hobby; one-dimensional.  In order to succeed at any life endeavor, such as your occupation, you must 1) piece together a wide array of your passions (plural), and 2) want to excel at it.  In the above example, if you are passionate about coffee, business, dealing with moochers, working with teenagers, and want to be the best coffee shop around, you are going to be very successful owning a coffee shop and most importantly enjoy it. 

When I departed for my first tour on June 5, 2010, I was passionate about about every aspect of my endeavor- pushing the limits of my physical capabilities, speaking in front of people, being around kids, traveling, being completely alone, living without any money, camping, living spontaneously without any guarantees, sales and marketing, meeting new people, and squatting at Starbuck's.  If I was not passionate about any areas of my 'occupation', then I would have had to put in a lot of effort to continue on with my journey.  And the second step of success is that I was already 'good' or I wanted to be 'good' at every single one of those passions.

Mark Cuban states in a recent blog post, "Don't follow your passions, follow your effort.  It will lead you to your passions and to success, however you define it".  Mr. Cuban is spot on with 'follow your effort' but slightly off the 'mark' (jokes are like nachos, the cheesier the better) with 'don't follow your passions'.  You should most definitely follow your passions.  But only the passions you want to excel at.

Much love and respect,

Mr. Teddy

Thank you to Mark Cuban for the valuable life and business insight you grant us through your blog.  I subscribe to his blog, you should also subscribe here.  Mark also LOVES fart jokes, you can send your best ones to him here.  

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